The present invention relates to a member for protecting an occupant of a vehicle, such as a motor vehicle or the like at a time of a motor vehicle collision or the like, and more particularly to an airbelt configured to be expanded by gas from a gas generating device. Further, the present invention relates to an airbelt apparatus provided with the airbelt and an anchor.
As is widely known, the airbelt apparatus is an apparatus in which a part of a webbing of a seatbelt apparatus (specifically, the part to be in contact with a body of an occupant) is constructed with an expandable airbelt. A gas generating device is activated at the time of collision of a motor vehicle, and the airbelt is expanded. The Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-260807 (incorporated by reference herein) describes an airbelt apparatus in which one end of the airbelt is connected to a tongue, a gas passage is provided in the tongue and a buckle to which the tongue is mounted, and gas is introduced into the airbelt through the gas passage. The other end of the airbelt is connected to a webbing in a similar manner to that of an ordinary seatbelt apparatus by means of stitching work, and the webbing is retracted by a seatbelt retractor.
In a case that the airbelt is connected to the tongue, a tip end of the airbelt is outfitted on a cylindrical portion provided at a rear end of the tongue, and is tightened with a hose band from the outside.
Instead of connecting the airbelt to the tongue to which the gas can be introduced, the airbelt is sometimes connected to a lap anchor having an inflator, and the gas from the inflator is introduced into the airbelt.
The connecting strength of the connecting portion of the airbelt with the tongue or the lap anchor, and the connecting strength of the connecting portion of the airbelt with the webbing with the stitching work is preferred to be as high as possible.
Consequently, motivated to provide an airbelt apparatus having a high connecting strength at these connecting portions, an airbelt apparatus can be considered in which the connected body of the airbelt and the anchor can include an airbelt comprising a bag and mesh webbing that covers the bag such that gas can be introduced in the airbelt. A tongue can be connected to the tip end of the airbelt and an opening is provided at a rear end of the tongue. The tip end of the airbelt can be folded back and overlapped on the airbelt after the tip end of the airbelt is inserted into the opening. The portions of the airbelt overlapped with each other are stitched together.
In this kind of proposed airbelt apparatus, not only the mesh webbing but also the bag is inserted into the opening of the tongue, and therefore the opening is required to have a large size.
An object of the present invention is to provide an airbelt apparatus with an airbelt and an anchor capable of connecting the airbelt to the anchor even when the size of the opening of the tongue is reduced.